friday i'm in love

Hello Beautiful,

I hope that every week I can fall a little bit more in love with the world.

Seriously.

This mysterious dance we do on the earth, in human skin, it's like a love affair.

Deluded, yet exquisitely, perfectly real. Gorgeous, all encompassing, so beautiful. Perfect, ecstatic, unbelievably unfair and painful.

Sacred, mundane.
Prepare for transfiguration, miracles, euphoria, ecstasy, boredom, and dirty dishes. Then more ecstasy. Don't forget the mystery.

Love. I don't reserve it only for my most intimate beloveds: child, partner, buddha, pug, self, island. I bestow it widely, on many things and people and experiences - I love so much. Don't you?

SO Fridays on The Artful Life are devoted to being in love. And talking about it. This feature is all about whatever I fell in love with this week, on the interwebs or otherwise. And whatever I think you might fall in love with too. Little loves and big loves. So here we go:

 
1.Vintage ephemera. Who doesn't love vintage ephemera? The textures of faded yellow paper, the inimitable shades of grey and sepia in old photographs, the way even accumulated stains and scars can become, over time, a beautiful patina, and the way even the scraps and remnants of mundane life can become, over time, objects of mystery, beauty, and value... this lovely blog, aptly named Vintage Ephemera, offers a rich library of carefully culled vintage images for you to download and use... the two images above were found there... I love it!

2. While we are on vintage, I love vintage books. I just adore books as objects. I have a growing collection in the studio, old books with beautiful covers, or odd illustrations, or beautifully yellowed pages - eventually, each one will become or be used in a work of art. The other day, my daughter and I did a "Thrift Store Challenge," in which we both get $20 and an hour in the thrift store; the challenge is simply to come up with awesome stuff. It's great fun. Part of my haul from the other day was this pile of beautiful vintage books:3. Waterfalls. I know, it's a bit random, but that's the point of friday-i'm-in-love. I love waterfalls. Shown below is one of a long series of falls in a nearby park we like to visit. There is something so healing about being in the vicinity of this powerful flowing water; the sound, the smell, the delicious de-ionized air, the meditative trance to which you can easily surrender by staring at the swirling foam... I love it.

4. My Big Love for this week, and for my life, is my beautiful daughter. Her visits are delicious. I am so blessed.